Maybe choosing significance isn’t too different from ordering coffee: you get to decide for yourself how much you want. Do you want to have a lot of impact or a little?
Once your decision is made, then you need to adjust how you use your time, energy and money to reflect your goals.
What Impact Looks Like
What follows is a visual representation of the significance in a person’s life. Each smiley face is a person who’s life was positively impacted by that person in a way that’s recognizable and long-lasting. The deeper the impact, the bigger the smiley face.
This person lived life entirely for himself without much concern for any other people. No one’s any better off since he came and left.
This person was also very self-absorbed and made no real effort to bless other people. Perhaps he was at least somewhat to helpful to his close family.
This person probably inadvertently benefited other people. He only occasionally felt motivated to help out other people in a meaningful kind of way.
This person was at least making an effort to be kind and helpful to people around him.
This person proactively did what he could do to be a benefit to other people. If he had better control of his time, energy and money, he would have had an even greater impact on the world.
This person deliberately worked hard to impact as many lives as he possibly could. His life was all about making a difference in the world and many people’s lives—both near to him and far from him—were better as a result.
What’s Your Cup of Tea?
Different people will prefer different ways of making a difference.
This person has had a positive effect on many, many people. This required a lot of proactivity and determination on his part. He liked blessing as many people as he could and most of them would not even have been a part of his life at all except for the efforts he made.
This person preferred to work with people closer to him. Several people’s lives were touched at an exceptionally deep level, probably through some form of mentoring. Many of them likely went on to live lives of great significance, also blessing many other people throughout their own lives.
So, what’ll it be? Do you want significance that’s tall, grande or vente? As for me and John at Steam Engine Financial Coaching, we’re going for vente!
